


The Doors Are Made of Glass

by brumalbreeze



Category: Psycho-Pass
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-14
Updated: 2015-08-14
Packaged: 2018-04-14 17:06:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4572660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brumalbreeze/pseuds/brumalbreeze
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It had been so long since she had gotten hiccups, and this was definitely not the best time to get them. Still, she tried reasoned with herself, getting hiccups in front of Shinya was better than getting them while trying to apprehend a criminal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Doors Are Made of Glass

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Minnichan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minnichan/gifts).



> I was [craving for a cute fic about hiccups](http://brumalbreeze.tumblr.com/post/126475390872/i-dont-usually-ask-for-much-but-i-just-got-a) the other day, so I decided to write one for myself too. Lol 
> 
> ([Shaples](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Shaples/pseuds/Shaples) also very kindly wrote me a [ReiGisa fic](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4562886) for the same prompt too, if you were interested!)
> 
> Anyway, I would like to dedicate this story to [Minnichan](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Minnichan/pseuds/Minnichan), since she was the one who inadvertently got me into _Psycho-Pass_ in the first place. And simply because she’s such a sweet darling whom I can talk to about everything. Thanks for always being there for me and letting me rant to you all the time! =O
> 
> Also on [Tumblr](http://algidwind.tumblr.com/post/126680080528/the-doors-are-made-of-glass-shinyaakane).

Akane was halfway through a sentence of her report when Nobuchika stood up from his desk and started to make his way to the door with his briefcase in tow. Startled by the sudden movement, since the entire room had been so quiet and still for so long, she snapped to attention and hastily checked the time. Their shift had ended more than an hour ago, but she hadn’t even realized it. Or rather, she vaguely did when she bade Shuusei, Yayoi, and Tomomi good-bye when they left, but she didn’t actually register that they were gone.

Quickly, she blurted out, “Good work today, Ginoza-san!”

In response, Nobuchika looked back at her briefly and nodded. Akane watched as he exited the room and the glass doors slid closed behind him.

Her shoulders slumped, and she sighed. Compared to days on the field where they would run about and chase suspects, slow days which confined the entire division in their office typing up reports were exhausting in their own right. It felt like she had gotten nowhere with her work, despite having spent the entire day diligently typing away.

Tiredly, she rubbed her eyes with the back of her wrists. She couldn’t help the tiny noise that came from her throat when she stretched her arms above her head.

A languid whorl of white cigarette smoke wafted up to the ceiling of the office, and a deep, borderline-reprimanding voice broke the quietude of the room.

“Why don’t you just go home if you’re that tired?”

Akane jumped slightly. Even though she had been aware of Shinya’s presence in the room earlier, it had completely slipped her mind. Half of her had expected him to be gone already, but she should have known better. He was always one of the last ones to leave, if not _the_ last.

She peered past the side of her lower monitor and saw him looking at her while he dangled a cigarette between his fore and middle fingers and rested his thumb on his chin. Akane awkwardly lowered her arms and placed her hands on her desk. “I thought I’d finish up my report first,” she replied in a small voice.

Shinya’s grey eyes bore into hers as he took a slow drag from his cigarette and breathed the smoke out from his nose in the form of an unamused laugh. He broke eye contact with her. “You submitted your report to the chief three hours ago,” he said plainly and tapped his cigarette into the ashtray by his keyboard.

Akane swallowed somewhat embarrassedly as she realized that there was no way she could fool him. “I just wanted to do some more research on our case for tomorrow, so we would have less work to do,” she said, glancing at her multiple screens and the plethora of windows she had up. “But I haven’t gotten very far.”

It was frustrating, but even after so many hours of cross-referencing and searching, Akane barely had anything to show for her work.

She reached out for her cup of coffee on her desk but thought better of it. Whatever pseudo-coffee grains were left in the mug had probably congealed stickily against the sides of the cup hours ago. The drink was barely palatable piping hot, so it was most likely vomit-inducing while stone cold.

Quietly, Akane sighed. She supposed it wouldn’t do her any good to take in any more caffeine anyway. Besides, what she needed now was not more coffee, but a second opinion. At the sudden flash of inspiration, she brightened up.

“That’s right!” she said maybe a little too loudly, considering that Shinya was only a desk away from her. “Kougami-san, maybe you can help me out! I’ve been going in circles the entire evening, but I think we can work things out if we went over the data together.” Akane paused. “That is, if you’re not busy with your work.”

After a quick glance at her and another drag of smoke, Shinya crushed his cigarette against the porcelain tray and rolled his shoulder to loosen it. “Sure,” he said, pushing away from his desk and leaning back in his chair, “what do you have so far?”

She smiled and started pulling up the most important files she had found. “I went back into our first reports of the case to cross-reference the data with the more recent information we recei—eived….” The end of her sentence was interrupted by a soft “ _up_ ” noise and a wide-eyed look from Akane.

Shinya cocked an eyebrow at her, and she pressed her hand over her mouth.

“So—rry,” she said, her apology spliced in half with a sharp, involuntary squeak. Akane tried to suppress the sudden spasms, but while the sound of her hiccups was stifled, the jerking of her shoulders was still visible.

In his chair, Shinya released a soft breath of air through his nose again, this time an amused one.

“They should st—op soon,” Akane said, her eyebrows furrowed in helplessness. It had been so long since she had gotten hiccups, and this was definitely not the best time to get them. Still, she tried reasoned with herself, getting hiccups in front of Shinya was better than getting them while trying to apprehend a criminal.

Regardless of the lesser evil that it was, hiccupping before Shinya was inconvenient and mildly embarrassing because of the way he was looking at her. He hadn’t said anything, but this was probably the most amused Akane had seen him in a while.

When she hiccupped for the fifth or sixth time in a row with no signs of ceasing, she said, “I sh—ould try to stop them.”

The first remedy she thought of was drinking water, but without even looking at her desk, she knew that the only source of liquid near her was the aforementioned coffee, which was wholly inedible at this point.

“I’ll go buy some wa—ter,” she said, starting to stand from her desk.

“Don’t bother. Just drink this,” Shinya said before she could get up. He grabbed a half-finished bottle from his table and tossed it at her.

Akane caught it with both hands. “Th—anks,” she smiled.

Quickly, she uncapped the bottle and took a deep breath in preparation. She tilted the bottle back and started gulping it down. The water level kept dropping with each swallow until it was empty. Akane let out a whoosh of air out after she finished, feeling very full and sloshy.

Both Shinya and she waited in tense silence.

For a second, nothing happened and Akane began to smile. “It wo—orked! Ugh, no it did—n’t.” The excitement drained from her immediately when her celebratory cheer was cut up by another hiccup. She sighed and let her shoulders drop.

“Try holding your breath,” Shinya suggested, shrugging at the failed remedy.

She nodded. “Okay.”

Akane sucked in another deep breath and held it. She focused on the pulse of her heart and her sporadic hiccups. Even while suspending her breathing, spasms made her shoulders jerk and tiny “ _hicc—up!_ ” noises came from her throat once in a while.

The pounding of her heart became stronger and more insistent the longer she held her breath, and sweat started to line her hairline slowly. After some long seconds, her stomach began to flex as her breath started running out. Still, she stubbornly held it and tried to will the hiccups away. She swallowed a few times in hopes that it would help stop the throbbing in her temples and chest, but it was to no avail. In another moment, she couldn’t do it anymore and let out an explosive sigh from her lungs. Immediately, she sucked in a new breath.

Akane had pointedly looked away from Shinya so the two of them weren’t staring at each other the entire time (since she knew she would probably burst out laughing), but she still felt self-conscious as she attempted to regulate her breathing. She was partially through a long gasp when her muscles convulsed and almost made her choke on air. A noise of frustrated despair clawed its way out of her.

“This is hope—less!” she lamented, frowning intensely at her misfortune.

Shinya gave her a thin smile. “You could always try standing on your head. I heard that works too.”

“Kougami-san!” she cried out indignantly and glared at him, glad that she didn’t hiccup through her short reprimand, at the very least.

He laughed, softer than the smoke that would trickle out from his lips and nose whenever he lit a cigarette, and teased, “Just a suggestion.”

She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Society has practically figured out how to stop _de—eath_ , but we still haven’t found a way to st—op _hiccups_?” she bemoaned, only half-kidding, because her hiccups had gone on long enough for a sharp pain to start up in her abdomen.

Shinya straightened his back and said, “Never mind your hiccups for now. Just go back to explaining what data you’ve gathered so far.”

“O—kay,” she said, exasperated but out of ideas. The only thing she could do was wait for her hiccups to go away on their own, and there was no point in wasting more time when they could be working instead. “Here are the files we have on hand about the case from two we—eeks ago, and here are the points I thought we should focus on.”

As she explained, Shinya made his way to her desk. He stood beside her with his hands in his pockets and the smell of Spinel cigarettes wafting off his clothes.

“According to what we kno—ow about the perpetrator’s M.O., their next victim should have shown u—p around the city’s, ugh….” Akane left her sentence unfinished as she pressed her hand against the side of her stomach, where needle-point pain throbbed as a courtesy of her hiccups.

“It hurts?”

“Y—es,” she replied while rubbing uselessly at the spot and hiccupping at the same time. “Ow.”

Suddenly, there was a small rush of air, and Akane found herself at eye level with Shinya, since he had crouched down by her. Her pain-induced scowl turned into one of confused surprise.

“Kougami-sa—?”

Before she could press out the last hum of her sentence, Shinya kissed her gently. His hand rested lightly on her knee, and her eyes shut very naturally at the chapped warmth on her lips. For a second, she lost herself to the simple pleasure of being kissed, but then, she snapped her eyes open and jerked back.

“Kougami-san!” she said in a furious half-whisper. “What are you doing? Someone could see us! The doors are made of glass!” Her eyes darted to said doors, but thankfully, no one was passing by the hallway in front of their office. Even so, her heart beat fast from the fear of getting caught.

“But no one did, so,” he replied simply, his steel grey eyes much closer and more dangerous than they were before. From his slightly lower position, the look he was giving her with hooded eyes was beyond devious.

Akane felt her cheeks heat up both from indignation and shyness at the mischievousness in Shinya’s gaze. The sharpness of his cigarette smoke stung the back of her throat at their close proximity.

“Besides,” he started again, “your hiccups were only cute when they weren’t hurting you.”

“My hiccups…? Oh! They’re gone!” she realized with a start. The pain in her side started to ebb away too, since the spasms had ceased.

“Seems like kisses are a good way to stop them,” he said with a downright devilish grin.

She rolled her eyes at his silliness and gave him an indulgent smile. “No, I’m pretty sure it was the element of surprise that caught me off guard and—mmn….”

Shinya kissed her again and leaned up closer.

Her arms wrapped around his neck at the gesture, and she smiled through their kiss. The taste of ashy bitterness seeped into her mouth and turned into liquid sugar as she giggled and hugged Shinya tightly.


End file.
